Combined tie plate and rail anticreeper



Dec. 25 1923.

Y f '1";478 ,787 J. A. HYLE COMBINED TIE PLATE AND RAIL ANTIGREE'I E RFiled March 19, 1923 Patented Dec. 25 1923.

r n e E.

- J'ACOBAQHYLE, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

COMBINED TIE PLATE AND RAIL ANTICREEPER I Application filed March 19,1923. Serial No. 626,084.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAooB A. HYLE, citizen of the United States,residingat Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State ofPennsylvania, have invented cer tain new and useful Improvements inCombined Tie Platesand Rail Anticreepers, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to a novel anticreeper tie plate and isespecially designed for the purposes of successfully preventing thecreeping and spreading of the rails upon a railway track, as well astoretain the track rails in their proper alignment, and to in- 5 sure asubstantially perfect gauge being ree tained on both sides of the railunder any and all conditions. The prime object of the invention is toprovide a novel, simple, durable, economical, meritorious and thoroughly'efficient com bined tie plate and anti-creeper for the track rails ofsteam and other railway road beds.

Another object of the invention is to provide a tie plate for receivingthe track rails, the plate being providedwith novel locking means forengaging the rails, said locking means including balls which tend tomove in tighter locking engagement with the base portion ofthe railsduring vibration of said rails.

Another object of the invention is to so construct my improved. tieplate, that the locking meanswill beprevented from mov- 4 ing out ofengagement with the base ofithe "36 track rail under allconditions.

Afurther objectof the invention is the provision of. a railway tie platewhich can be rigidly secured to the usual'cross-tie, and

I which embodies aplurality of yielding lugs 40 adapted to overlap theupper surface of the track railbase, the inner surface of each lug beingformed with means for the reception and retention of the automaticallymovable locking means.

The foregoing and such other objects as mayappear from the ensuingdescription are accomplished by the construction, ar--rangement,.locatio'n and combination of the parts hereinafter morefully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and

particularly pointed .outinlthe claims appended hereto, it beingunderstood that slight changes in the precise proportions and minordetails of construction may be resorted towithout departing from thespirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part'of this specification, itwill be seen that: Figure 1. is a plan of the improvedplate embodying myinvention in its normal position beneath a railroad rail, showing therail broken away and the locking means in dotted lines, Figure 2 is aplan showing the position of the tie plate with respectto the railbefore being forced into its normalposition.

Figure 3 is a transverse section taken in the plane of the dottedlines8-3, Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows, and showing themovable locking 'means' embraced by oneof the clamping lugs.

Figure 4c is a side elevation showing the platedetached from the rail. 1igure 5 is a plan showing a blank form of the plate, and showing thedepressions formed in the upper face of the plate before the railclamping lugs are formed.

Figure 6 s a cross-section taken in the plane of the dotted lines 6-6,Fig. 4, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 7 is an enlarged cross-section through one of the clamping lugstaken in the plane of the dotted lines 77, Fig. 4:, looking inthe'direction of the arrow and showing the movable locking means restingonthe recessed portionof said lug, and Figure 8 is a slightly enlargedsection taken in the plane of the dotted lines 8-8, Fig. 3, showing thelocking means in engagement withtherecessed inner race of one of theclamping lugs and the thebase of the rail;

In the embodiment of my invention as illustrated the numeral 1designates the metallic plate preferably formed from rolled I steel ofthe desired quality and any suitable dimensions, with a smooth'flatlower surface upper surface of having a thickened central body portion2,

the upper surface being beveled or gradually tapered from its thickenedportion'to each outer end 3 thereof. Said plate is then heated to theproper degree and while in its heated state a suitable die is placedonthe face of the-plate'near its'diagonally opposite corners and by "asingle blow of a suitable power hammer or forgin machine, the i recessesor depressions 4 ofsu stantially the shape shown iniFig. 5 are formedtherein,

suitable spike openings 5 are then punched therethrough by the propermachine, and the a plate is then cut through in the plane of the Vdotted lines shown in Fig. 5, after which the plate, in its'heatedcondition, is placed in a suitable: machine and the said out portions ofthe plate are bent or turned upwardly and inwardly to form yielding lugs5, adapted to tightly clamp the upper surface. ofv the rail base 6, theouter surface of each lug being formed with a strengthening rib 7, andthe inner face'of each lug having a recess or depression t formedtherein with a substantially straight central portion 8, terminating atits outer end in semi-circular,

form 9, and at its inner end with a lateral extension at each sidethereof which is graduallyshallowed toward its outer ends, as clearlyshown in Fig. 8, said depression forming a pocket for the reception ofaplurality of case hardened steel movable balls 10, adapted ,to contactwith the upper'face of the base of the track rail for the purposehereinafterdescribed.

- By. reference to Fig. 2 it will be seenthat theplate is first placedbeneath the rail 11 substantially into the position shown, after 7 whichby striking the outer edge 12 of said use plate with a sledge or heavyhammer the lower beveled faces of'the lugs will be caused to yieldinglyslide inwardly to overlap the upper surface ofthe rail base until theplate assumes its normal position beneath thebase of therail, as shownin Figs. land 3, thereby rigidly and securely clamp- I ing the plate tothe rail base, after which the steel locking and wedging balls,preferably three of said balls, are inserted into the outer end of thepocket formed by the recess or depression ineach of the lugs, whichballs'assume substantially theposition shown in Figs. 1 and 7 and restin contact with the rail base. In removing the plate from the track railafter the fastening spikes shall have been withdrawn it is simplynecessary to turn the railover, and if necessary tap saidrail-'or-plate-withahammer and the steel balls will drop out of thepocket, then by striking the-edge 13' of the plate with a sledge orheavy'hammertheplate maybe easily detached.

It will be readily perceived that since the late'ralextensions of eachrecess or depresthe shallow surfaceythereby causing the ball tolbecometightly wedged against the rail base,1thussuccessfully preventing'anyjcreep in}; 'ofthe rail, at the-same 'timerallowing 7 sufficient movementto permit the wave moe tion of the rail usually caused by heavy rollingstock passing over the track rails.

While I have shown three steel locking and wedging balls, it will beobvious that only one or two of these balls may be utilized forelfecting the desired purpose and that the saidlocking means will-*serveto make it practically impossible for the rails to creep either way whenemployed in connection with a-singleor double track having traffic inone ortwo directions.

By my novel construction and arrangement of combined tie plate and railanticreeper it willbe evident, that a compara tivelyeconomical productis formed, which. is adapted to effectualy serve'to prevent theaccidental spreading of the rails; to insure a. perfect guage andalinement of the rails on each side thereof at all times; that :asmaller percentage of these plates will be required to each railthanthose usually employed, thereby'creating a considerable saving per mileof road'bed, and efficiently prevents the a'nt-i-creepingof the trackrails.

It will be understood that asthe plate is being forced into itsnorma'lposition beneath the baseof therail the overlappinglugs made from theproper quality of steel 'are so formed that they willspring or yieldgradually as they are caused to slidevupon the inclinedupper surface ofthe rail base,

thereby causing the inward portion of each lug to grip. the rail withmore intensity when it is caused to assume its final and proper positionbeneath the base of the rail.

Havingthus described :my invention what l claim and desire to'secure byLetters Patent-'isz- 1 1. A. track-rail tie plate of the c'haracte"described, comprising a rolled steel plate formed with a lug disposed ateach of two diagonally opposite corners, each lug overlapping andclamping the upper surface of therailbase, and each of said lugs havingrecess formed in its inner face for the re ception of locking means 2..A track-rail ,tie plate of the character described formed of a singlepiece ofsteel formed with a lug'disposed ateach oftwo diagonallyopposite corners adapted to overlap and clamp the upper surface of therail base,'each of said lugsebein g formed with a recess in its; innerface for the reception of steel ball locking and wedging means. I

3. Atrack 'rail'tie plate of the character described composed of asingle piece of steel having a plurality of lugs adapted to over lap theupper surface of the rail base, each of'saidilugslo'eing formed with apocket in its inner face for the recepti'on'of steel ball locking;means.

4. As track-raihtie platefofthe character 7 described formed of a singlepiece of steel formed-with a lug disposed' at eachjof two ingly clampingand overlapping the upper surface of the rail base, each of said lugsbeing formed with a pocket in its inner face for the reception of steelball locking means adapted to contact with said upper surface.

5. A track-rail tie plate of the character described formed of a singlepiece of steel formed with a lug disposed at each of two diagonallyopposite corners, each lug adapted to overlap and tightly clamp theupper surface of the rail base, each of said lugs being provided with arecess formed in its inner face, and steel ball locking means fittedinto said recess in contact with said upper surface.

6. A track rail tie plate of the character described formed of a singlepiece of rolled steel having a plurality of yielding lugs overlappingand tightly gripping the upper surface of the rail base, each of saidlugs being provided with a pocket formed in its inner face, and aplurality of locking and Wedgin balls fitted into said pocket in contactwit the said upper surface.

7. A track rail tie plate of the character described formed of a singlepiece of rolled steel having a plurality of integral yielding lugsadopted to overlap and tightly clamp the upper surface ofthe rail base,each lug having a recess formed in its inner face, and a plurality ofcase hardened steel balls fitted into the said recess in contact withsaid upper surface. s

8. A track'rail tie plate of the character described formed of a singlepiece of steel having a yielding lug adapted to overlap the uppersurface of the rail base, said lug having a recess formed in its innerface, and automatically operated locking and wedging means fitted insaid pocket in contact with said upper surface. k

9. A track rail tie plate of the character described formed of a singlepiece of metal having a thickened body portion and beveled endport-ions, a plurality of tapered overlapping yielding lugs adapted totightly clamp the upper surface of the rail base, each of said lugshaving a recess formed in its inner face and a central strengthening ribon its outer face, and a plurality of steel balls serving as looking andwedging means loosely fitted within said recess, said locking andwedging means being automatically operated by the movement of the rail.

JACOB A. HYLE.

